3G, 4G, 5G …what does it all mean? The average person doesn’t know the SPEED difference between 3G or 4G. You need to actually SEE it. I decided to put it to the test by using 4G Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket vs. 3G iPhone 4S (both running on the AT&T network). What does it actually mean when you watch YouTube videos? Or load a webpage like ESPN or cnn.com? Watch my 4G vs 3G video blog speed test to see who wins.

‎**my apologies- i mistakenly read the Speed Test App numbers when I filmed this as “megabytes” and it’s actually megabits**

Every once and a while I come across a tool or tip that I think it’s so cool- I just have to share it…

Read any digital marketing or social media blog or publication in the past year- chances are you’ll come across articles featuring or highlighting the social influence scoring system Klout. They’re positioned as a influence measurement platform that makes it easy to identify whom is influential online (this is measured by analyzing: RT, mentions, Facebook comments/likes, Google +1′s etc.).

Typically, to see Klout scores for any given person- you have to go to Klout.com/[INSERT-NAME-HERE] (or tools like CoTweet have plugins built in to see scores). However, I came across this nifty plugin that was developed at Klout’s own internal hackathon. This allows you to see the scores on Twitter.com right next to each Tweet like this:

Yeah- pretty slick isn’t it?! I think so.

You can download and grab the plugins here:

• Chrome Klout Extension
• Firefox Klout Add-on Extension

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KCTV5 asked me to come on to their afternoon show today with Carol Long to talk about the new iPhone announced today. You can watch the interview on KCTV5 here.

Here are the 5 devices I highlighted in the interview:

1.) Dell XPS 13 – “Ultrabook”

2.) HTC Titan 2 – Smartphone

3.) Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga – Laptop

4.) simple TV

5.) i’m watch

I’ve noticed a trend and a theme for CES this year (International Consumer Electronics Show). There are few truly interesting and disruptive products being shown, only evolutions not revolutions. While it remains the world’s largest consumer technology convention, it has lost its clout. CES 2012 has exactly what I expected- the latest and greatest: TVs, smartphones, tablets, and ultrabooks (over 75 ultrabooks will be launched this year). But there isn’t anything groundbreaking.

It’s also interesting to note the biggest technology companies on the planet do not show up to CES: Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Google and soon Microsoft. They have followed suit with Apple- hold your own private event, control and contain the announcement(s) on your terms and turf <– yet they are at CES because all of these companies are “in” the devices.

I think CES has become less relevant- because technology innovation has shifted more to the software side (the cloud + software as a service). Over the recent years, many of the biggest announcements at CES were just for Apps and services. And that shift has illustrated that it’s less about the hardware. This is because the death of the spec has set in. No longer does only the “biggest, fastest, and lightest” win consumers over. Consumers want devices that perform the best, have a digital ecosystem around it (apps and content), and is priced right. The average person simply asks of their electronic devices, “I want it to be easy and I just want it to work”.

Make no mistake- the show is still important to many retailers and device manufactures. Companies still need to sell their products to retailers and take orders (many people forget, a ton of business takes place at CES).

I don’t think CES should go away. And I don’t think it will shut down. However, it’s already transitioned to being less of “the exclusive” and first place to debut electronics- and more of what it ultimately is, just a trade show.

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This is a helpful tip and trick I discovered- this is how to embed a Tweet into a blog post. The advantage of doing this (other than not having to take a screenshot) is this allows you pull in the Tweet with native Twitter buttons that allow people to 1-click: retweet, reply, favorite, and follow the account of the embedded Tweet.

Copy and paste this 1-line of code:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> ^TS</p>&mdash; Twitter API (@twitterapi) <a href="PUT-THE-TWEET-URL-HERE"></a></blockquote>

*Please note, you need to copy this on the HTML editor not the Visual tab

The result should look like this:

^TS

— Twitter API (@twitterapi)

Pretty slick huh? Tell your blogger friends- or better yet, click the RT button above

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I recently shared some jaw dropping statistics regarding mobile and smartphone usage (via Mitch Joel). The analytics firm (Flurry) who broke this news- is now reporting even more mind-blowing statistics.

• “1.2 billion apps were downloaded in the last week of December”
• “Looking forward to 2012, Flurry expects breaking the one billion download barrier per week”
• “Google confirmed that more than 3.7 million Android devices were activated over the Christmas weekend.”
• “6.8 million new iOS and Android devices activated on Christmas Day alone, 353% increase.”
• On Christmas Day alone, people downloaded an estimated 10 million apps per hour.

And I shared this study recently…

— Twitter API (@twitterapi)

What does this all mean?

First and foremost- this doesn’t mean if you’re a brand or business you need to go design and create an App. Stop. Do not assume it’s as easy to think if you invest money in building an app- “they will come (or even use it)”. There are over 500,000+ Apps in iOS, and 400,000+ in Android Market ← it’s a very crowded space

It’s also important to understand there is a distinct difference between the need to develop an App and building a mobile optimized website (and significant cost difference for upkeep). A careful needs assessment should be done to evaluate if an App is really necessary.

I suggest to first ask yourself what you’re trying to achieve first. Are you creating a resource, utility, function or broadly helpful tool? Or are you just repurposing the content from your company website? Asking a user to download an App is not only a hurdle from an awareness perspective (they have to know it exists) but from a user experience standpoint- unless the utility or content you provide is high, the user may not even do it.

Think about if you- yourself would download your own App? Or why you would visit your own business or brand website? What functional/practical expectations do you would need to exist?

From a mobile design perspective, always keep in mind the context of their users visit is from their phone ← it’s very different than full desktop browsing. and knowing someone has a phone in their hand is helpful- it should narrow the focus on features and navigation options (you know more context than you do with a website: they have a mobile phone in their hand- and you can use hardware features to detect location and customize content and the experience). the golden rule: mobile forces you to focus on only the most important data and actions (top tasks needed to be accomplished).

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(i’m in the process of setting up my iTunes Match- i hope it’s as easy + great as it claims to be… i’ll let you know)

Recently I took a roadtrip with my sister to my hometown of Springfield, MO. Being a huge music hoarder (and former DJ in college) i plugged in my iPod loaded with over 14k+ songs. About 30-minutes into the trip, my sister asked “Have you heard the new Drake album?” I replied, telling her I had- but didn’t have it transfered it to my iPod. With a few taps and a quick search- my sister launched the Spotify Mobile App on her iPhone and we were streaming the whole album in seconds. We went on to listen to many other albums and songs together on the roadtrip, all without downloading a single song. Spotify is just one example of the beginning of the end to the idea of “music ownership”.

2011 was the Digital Music Cloud Revolution

2011 marked the year that digital music made it’s giant leap to the cloud. Services like Spotify, iTunes Match, Google Music, Amazon Cloud, and MOG provide 2 types of digital options for users:

1- digital “locker” music storage
2- unlimited music streaming

And the reality is this is more than just “the next big thing”. The revolution is happening now. Over 2.5 million+ people are paying for premium streaming music on Spotify today (and that’s just 1 of the services…)

YouTube is the new MTV

More people are turning off MTV and turn to YouTube for their music. Nielsen conducted a study that found that more people watch music on YouTube than download it. Turns out, audio streaming is actually more popular than legal digital downloads.

…but our kids won’t get it

We need to understand that Digital Natives will not understand the same concept of what it’s like to own a physical copy of music. They won’t understand what we mean when tell them how hard it is (was) to try to pick and tear open the clear wrapping on a new CD. Moreso, they won’t care either because they won’t see the value in a physical disc or even a .MP3 file.

It begs the question: why do we need to own copies of our music? Only us old-timers carry the nostalgic baggage of needing wanting to own a physical copy of our music. But the question is why? Is there any real need to have a physical copy? Both the cloud and streaming services offer temporary “offline download storage and sync” so you can still listen to your favorite music or playlists even when you don’t have 3G or WiFi. Digital Darwinism has changed music for both consumers and the industry- it’s a disruption and evolution.

Chances are you’re already carrying your phone or are at a computer with you when you want to listen to music. So why do we need to carry CDs or even an iPod with you?

The definition of “owning” our music- has changed.

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Smartphone screens are getting bigger. It begs the question- is the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus too big? For perspective- i put the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus next to the EVO and iPhone 4S and a Moleskine journal). The Galaxy has a huge 4.65-inch screen!

Meet the new Amazon: Kindle Fire. At $200, it’s significantly more affordable than most tablets. Here’s my video blog review on the Amazon Kindle Fire (if you can’t see the video below, click here).

18 months ago the iPad was first released and everyone since then has been waiting for the official iPad app to be released. Well- it’s finally here! I have to admit, using your fingers with gestures to browse Facebook is just plain fun. I recorded a walkthrough video of the Facebook iPad app to show you just how it works. You can download the Facebook iPad app in the App Store or here (there is also a new version if the iPhone app out as well).

KCTV5 asked me to come on to their afternoon show today with Carol Long to talk about the new iPhone announced today. You can watch the interview on KCTV5 here.

My thoughts? So no iPhone 5. But it’s now on Sprint! And the iPhone 4S + iOS5 + iCloud is awesome. Photogs and @instagram lovers, the new camera on the #iPhone 4S is incredible. It’s faster (1.1 sec), 8-megapixels, f/2.4 aperture, sharper. It’s amazing the expectations Apple has set for themselves when they release a phone. No iPhone 5, but this is the best cell phone ever made. So why no #iPhone 5? I think the hardware isn’t there yet. And they need to figure out mobile payment. When they do, then we’ll get iPhone 5. I think Apple will keep a close eye on the wins / failures of Google Wallet, then steal best of breed and put it in the #iPhone 5. BTW, I’m shocked @Sprint PR/CC has nothing on Sprint.com or http://newsroom.sprint.com RE: iPhone. On Twitter they’re sending people to Apple.com. Shocking they’re missing such an opportunity here.

Here’s the official Apple commercial for the new iPhone 4S:

My friend Pat showed me this AWESOME app. Yeah, this is cool. So cool, I had to vblog it…

if you want to buy it, you can grab it in the App store for your Mac.

There’s something to be said about the trend over the recent years about the usage of infographics. Recently, I was doing research for one of my a big brand/ corporate clients on infographics …and stumbled upon this “Twitterize Yourself!” infographic tool. I plugged in my girlfriend’s Twitter handle vs. my own (@rm) and found out some interesting data. I also compared it to our Klout scores. The results were interesting…

As you can see, my girlfriend is way better at using Twitter than I am!

KCTV5 asked me to come on to their afternoon show with Carol Long to talk about the Facebook Video Calling and Group Chat announcements. During the interview, I shared my thoughts on how people can use the new features and a couple things to consider.